Byron Scott: "We got exactly what we deserved"

And, with that, goes the perfect season (ha!). Sometimes it takes losses like last night's to put things into perspective. It was just the fourth game in the season, but Atlanta, in Scott's words, "played with more energy, they were more physical than us" and "they were just manhandleing us."

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There were multiple instances in this game where Atlanta missed two or three shots in a single possession and still managed to score. In the end, the Hawks had 10 more rebounds than the Hornets. While that may not seem like much, that's 10 more opportunities to get the ball in the basket.

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"The second effort," Morris Peterson said. "That's what really hurt us tonight was the second effort."

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Mo Pete added that the Hornets had "no excuse" for not matching the Hawks' intensity tonight. In retrospect, one can seen why New Orleans may have felt entitled to a win: they opened the season with three-straight wins, the Hawks barely squeeked into the playoffs last year and they were playing at the Hive.

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"We definitely came out flat," Tyson Chandler said. "We came out too flat to beat a young, energetic team like this. They came out and played harder than us. Teams are going to measure themselves against us."

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Thankfully though, this team has its perspective caps on. And, as a friendly reminder, so should fans. There are still 78 games left in this season and more than a few of them are going to be losses (and some of those will be as ugly as last night.

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"We lost a game," Chris Paul said. "We would like to go 820, but it wasn't very likely. We just ahve to find out what our identity is and we have to start establishing it."

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If team wants to be like last year, their identity has to be "beat them up" like Scott said in the post-game press conference. This team has to go back to the mentality that nothing comes easy and they have to fight and claw their way to victory every night. The only difference between last year and this year is that people see the Hornets coming.